Shimiel Institute of Solar Astronomy

The Shimiel Institute of Solar Astronomy (SISA) is attached to Kuzar University in Avivash.  It currently serves as both a college for training students in astrophysics and as the system's premiere astronomical research facility.  Professor Aryeh Eltish currently holds the Khavetz Chair of Astrophysics and the directorship of the institute.

SISA currently administers a small observatory high in the Seir mountains.  It boasts a pair of 100-inch telescopes and a small array of radio telescopes.

Saalhom System Overview

Suns.  The binary stars that serve as the system's focal point are called Saalhom I and II.  Saalhom I is a blue dwarf, while Saalhom II is a main sequence yellow star.  They are gravitationally locked and revolve around each other in eccentric orbits every 1.25 local days.

Inner Planets.  The four inner planets are highly evolved and exhibit a typical terrestrial formative process.  Significant atmospheres on these worlds are all second generation and contain comparatively small amounts of hydrogen.

Bogartah.  The closest planet to the twin suns is charred and rocky.  It has no moons.  A small planet, this world is unfit for habitation by life.

  • Semimajor Axis:  0.43 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  107 local days (102 standard days)
  • Stage of Evolution:  Mid-Fourth
  • Atmosphere:  None
  • Magnetic Field:  Moderate to Strong
  • Surface Structure:  Heavy cratering
  • Surface Temperature:  600K day side; 200K night side
  • Surface Pressure:  Very low
  • Tectonic Activity:  None
  • Moons:  0

Shonim.  This world once contained an abundance of water, but its proximity to the system's stars prevented it from condensing.  As a result, life never formed here, and CO2 filled the atmosphere, generating a runaway greenhouse effect.

  • Semimajor Axis:  0.57 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  164 local days (157 standard days)
  • Stage of Evolution:  Early Fifth
  • Atmosphere:  Secondary; CO2 predominant
  • Magnetic Field:  Very Weak
  • Surface Structure:  Volcanic plains
  • Surface Temperature:  750K
  • Surface Pressure:  High
  • Tectonic Activity:  Minimal
  • Moons: 2

Ari'ahatz.  While this planet showed promise for the potential evolution of life, it was too small to continue generating enough internal heat to advance out of the fourth stage of evolution.

  • Semimajor Axis:  0.85 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  298 local days (286 standard days)
  • Stage of Evolution:  Late Fourth
  • Atmosphere:  Secondary; N2 predominant
  • Magnetic Field:  Weak to Moderate
  • Surface Structure:  Volcanic mountains
  • Surface Temperature:  400K
  • Surface Pressure:  Low
  • Tectonic Activity:  None
  • Moons:  1

Iyudah.  This world lays within the "life zone" surrounding the system's stars and has a Type I atmosphere.  The surface is largely mountainous desert, but a few lowlands have been discovered to be much more fertile, particularly the floodplain of the Meggido River.

  • Semimajor Axis: 1.00 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  381 local days (365 standard days)
  • Stage of Evolution:  Late Fifth
  • Atmosphere:  Secondary; N2 predominant
  • Magnetic Field:  Moderate
  • Surface Structure:  Mountains and Deserts, oceans
  • Surface Temperature:  300K
  • Surface Pressure:  Moderate
  • Tectonic Activity:  Significant
  • Moons:  1

Ghuryon Belt.  This ring surrounding the local stars is formed of material that failed to accrete into protoplanets. Significant asteroid populations also exist in orbits outside the belt; these orbits are usually highly eccentric.

Outer Planets.  Both a gas giant and a terrestrial planet exist outside the system's asteroid belt.  These are lonely, slow-moving worlds that have hosted only scientific exploration.

Sagartiah.  This impressive gas giant captured a large amount of the hydrogen that was blown off the atmospheres of the inner planets.  Its visible surface is actually composed of cloud tops in several distinct groupings.

  • Semimajor Axis:  11.04 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  36.7 years
  • Atmosphere:  Primitive; H2 predominant
  • Magnetic Field:  Moderate to Strong; skewed off planetary axis
  • Ring Structure:  Five distinct small rings
  • External Structure:  Light and dark bands are high, cool and low, hot air patterns;  several anti-cyclones
  • Internal Structure:  Liquid hydrogen, liquid metallic hydrogen, metallic core
  • Surface Temperature:  80K
  • Surface Pressure:  High
  • Moons:  7 major; at least 30 minor

Moshanah.  A tiny planetoid, this world is believed to be a captured object from the outlying Da'atz Field.  It is terrestrial, but its distance from the sun has made it a frozen world.

  • Semimajor Axis:  27.88 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  147.2 years
  • Stage of Evolution:  Late Fourth
  • Atmosphere:  Secondary; N2 and CH4 predominant
  • Magnetic Field:  Weak
  • Surface Structure:  Frozen mountains
  • Surface Temperature:  40K
  • Surface Pressure:  Low to Moderate
  • Tectonic Activity:  None
  • Moons:  0

Other Formations.  Two other orbital regions exist outside the orbits of the outer planets.

Epheri Cloud.  This is a region from which most of the comets orbiting the system's stars originate.  It lays a considerable distance outside the orbit of Moshanah, which, when coupled with the tendency of most of the local comets toward extremely eccentric orbits, results in extraordinarily slow orbital movement within the cloud.

  • Semimajor Axis:  50 to 60 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  353.6 years to 464.8 years
  • Composition:  Mostly comets, some asteroids
  • Orbital Bodies:  Roughly 100,000

Da'atz Field.  Beyond the Epheri Cloud lies a hodgepodge of objects caught in a slow orbit around the system, most of which are believed to have been captured from interstellar space.  The planet Moshanah is believed to be a Da'atz Field object that was at some point forced into a closer orbit.

  • Semimajor Axis:  80 to 100 AU

  • Period of Revolution:  715.5 years to 1,000 years
  • Composition:  Mostly asteroids
  • Orbital Bodies:  Roughly 10 million